Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Wednesday that “invading Iraq was a mistake,” referring to comments made by his likely opponent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL).
In an interview that aired Monday, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly asked Bush if he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 like his brother did, even knowing what he knows now. Bush answered that he would.
After massive backlash, Bush said on Tuesday that he had misinterpreted Kelly’s question. However, he still said he was unsure about what he would have done because the question was hypothetical. On Wednesday, Bush again addressed the incident, saying he wouldn’t answer the question out of respect for the troops.
Paul, who made reference to the “hypothetical” nature of the question said launching an invasion into Iraq was “a mistake,” during an interview Wednesday with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“You know, I think it’s a really important question and I don’t think it’s just hypothetical,” Paul said. “Because we seem to have a recurring question in the Middle East whether not it’s a good idea to topple a secular strong man or secular dictators and what happens after that.”
“I think there’s a consistent theme here that every candidate should be asked, and that is is it a good idea to go into the Middle East,” Paul continued. “I think, even at the time invading Iraq was a mistake and I thought the war, even at the time, was a mistake given the intelligence. Everybody needs to be asked — all the Republicans should be asked, did you and do you support Hillary’s war in Libya. And so I think as these questions get asked, we will get to the answer of who Republicans want to lead the country, who do Americans want to lead the country.”
Watch the video below, courtesy of the Daily Caller:
